Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged the Contemporary Globe

One can find many contenders for the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.

As per a new book, however, that title belongs to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Before automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, that turned timber to planks with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the world.

The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted its circular motion to vertical action for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment per cycle.

“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so they operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward motion and advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”

A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.

Round and Up

Design a mechanism which converts circular movement into vertical motion. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.